The Orre Enigma
by NebulaTheCrimson
Summary: Five expert trainers have been hand-picked by Lance of Kanto's Elite Four to head to the troubled desert region of Orre. Their mission: Investigate the disappearances of Pokémon in the region. Danger, suspense and some silly bits await. Stuff for everyone
1. Shipping the Cast

**Disclaimer: Aside from some of the human characters, I own nothing in this fic. Nintendo, Creatures Inc., The Pokémon Company, Gamefreak and Genius Sonority do, however.**

_Chapter 1: Shipping the Cast (Bryan)_

A good day. My name is Bryan Hayward, known as the Spirit of Slateport. I'm a Pokémon Trainer and Coordinator and, as the nickname some have given me might have hinted at, I am from Slateport City, Hoenn. Recently, I competed at the Johto League, having had a stab at glory in my home region, coming first in the Grand Festival of Hoenn, as well as third in the league. My achievement in Johto was a tad more modest, coming fourth overall. I guess I owe some of my success to my knowledge of some of the fighting arts.

It was at the Johto League that I met my companions. There are four of them, each of them from a different region. Where do I start? Well first there's our resident techie. Shannon Beck, a true beauty from Olivine City, the main port town in the Johto region. That's right – geeks can be beautiful too! You should see her, a red-haired maiden whose rouge locks flow down her back, with her brown eyes framed like a painting by her black-rimmed glasses. She's about six feet tall and while she may not be very well-endowed (if you get my meaning) and her pale skin might not be blemish-free (okay, she's actually got a fair number of blackheads), but I like her. She's probably my favourite of my comrades. She's not only beautiful, but she's an expert and fixing anything that needs fixing. TV sets, motor engines or even my PokéNav! (For the record, it was because my Exploud stood on it.) She mends things, and they are truly of high quality! Much like the Pokémon she took with her for the mission we've been sent on, a Magnezone.

Another girl of the three in our group is Midori Fujioka, who seems to act as our leader. Well that's fair enough – she's a native Orrian, after all. She trains an Infernape, a powerful Pokémon with a fighting spirit to match that of his trainer. She's a little bit shorter than Shannon, with a bigger cup size (although to be fair, Shannon's as thin as Yanmega's tail) and shorter, bleach blonde hair and tanned skin with the occasional freckle. Like me and my martial arts and Shannon's technical wizardry, she's got a talent of her own. She's a musician, specifically a guitarist and singer. She used to be in a band called The Green Mist Audio Experience but apparently they split up when the drummer and keyboard player got together which to me sounds a bit odd. I mean, this was an all-girl group. Although she's an Orrian, she lived in Goldenrod for a while. She sometimes uses a few words I don't understand, but she's nice enough. A bit of a romanticist, she's pretty much spent the boat trip to Orre sitting in her room and sighing, looking at pictures from her older sister, Akane's wedding. Her sister's got a pretty funny name now. Akane Hildebrandt-Fujioka. Quite an odd combination, I think. Why do you suppose Akane and her husband Ansgar chose to use a double-barrelled name?

I've spent enough time talking about the two loveliest members of the troupe. I really should tell you about the mission. I'll tell you about Michelle and Nigel later. Alternatively, I could let someone else do it. Anyway…

Orre's a region that has had its fair share of crime in the past, mostly coming from the syndicate "Cipher", infamous for their Shadow Pokémon operations. There's also Team Snagem and Team Miror. B, who were also at one point affiliated with them. Kind of makes the eco-terrorism of my regions local terrors Team Aqua and Team Magma look like little more than a pair of rival graffiti gangs, I think. Recently, something else has been happening. Pokémon have been going missing all across the region. From our experience and talent, we were selected for the mission. In order to avoid thefts, we were only allowed to take one Pokémon each. I took Exploud, in order to offset the rest of the team's focus on physical attacking.

Our story starts on the boat. We had set off from the port in Olivine and had covered most of the distance of the journey. The five of us had been forced to share a cabin due to the amount of people on board. But that was fine, seeing as it meant plenty of potential battles. Personally, I wasn't too bothered about that since it meant that I could be more focused when we arrived on land. After all, why waste too much effort now? Instead, I was on the main deck, watching the battles. In particular, I was watching Nigel and Shannon doing battle.

Nigel's the youngest member of the group, but he's one hell of a trainer. He's a bit shorter than the rest of us with brown hair which has been compared to a Spearow's nest. He was wearing a black t-shirt and white trainers with blue jeans, carrying a large rucksack full of various provisions. He's not exceptionally well built, I mean given the chance I could probably knock him down in a single shot. Lucky for him we usually have our Pokémon do all the fighting. But anyway, there he was, letting the sea breeze blow through his hair, occasionally picking out the leaves his Torterra had shed. His opponent, Shannon was dressed similarly. Blue jeans, a white, sleeveless t-shirt and blue flip-flops. Midori was acting as the referee for the battle.

"She's using a Magnezone, huh? Earthquake, Torterra!" Nigel called, pointing forwards as he gave the command.

"Magnet Rise," Shannon smirked, expecting Magnezone to be able to dodge in time. Sure enough, Torterra sent a shockwave through the floor, shaking the boat. Magnezone, however, was able to outrun Torterra and glowed yellow, managing to avoid the attack altogether.

"You…" Nigel grumbled as his Torterra stopped the attack. "Why didn't you tell me it could do that?!"

Shannon just grinned. "Because. Now what are you going to attack me with?"

"Seed Bomb!"

"Magnezone, Rain Dance."

Magnezone twisted its front-mounted magnets, one clockwise and the other anti-clockwise, summoning storm clouds which burst into a thick drizzle. Torterra roared and spat a stream of explosive seeds at Magnezone, which bounced off its thick shell and shattered, leaving Magnezone relatively unharmed.

"_So why did she make it rain?"_ Nigel thought. _"Magnezone can't use Water attacks and Thunder's useless on Torterra… Unless maybe…"_

"Torterra, we've got to wrap this up! Frenzy Plant!" he called out, trying to think of some way for Torterra to win and all he could come up with was sheer firepower.

"Use Flash Cannon next," Shannon commanded, feeling confident of victory.

Magnezone's red central eye began glowing white and its two front magnets began pointing at each other, creating a large ball of light, from which a beam of lustrous energy was shot at Torterra, who countered by glowing slightly green and stomping the ground. A large bunch of roots shot out of the floor and hit Magnezone, tying it up and wrapping it. Torterra began breathing heavily to conserve his energy.

"Is that it?" Shannon taunted. "Your Torterra looks pretty beaten up and exhausted."

"It was just one Flash Cannon," Nigel shrugged.

"No, it was two," Shannon retorted. "Go on Magnezone!"

Repeating the motions from the last attack, Magnezone began powering up and fired another Flash Cannon attack at the weakened Torterra, who roared in pain at the attack. Nigel chewed on his bottom lip, worrying about what to do next as Torterra fell to his knees. Midori raised a hand and was about to declare Torterra out of the battle when it began glowing, the leaves on the tree on its back growing broader and thicker. Overgrow had set in, and was going to make the battle a lot more interesting.

"Frenzy Plant!" Nigel called out, recognising that although he could heal up with Synthesis, it would never work due to the rain. This was his last chance, and I couldn't help but watch to see how it would play out.

"Flash Cannon!"

Torterra began glowing green again and stomped the deck, creating some truly enormous roots which went up and tried to wrap Magnezone, but it wasn't enough. A third Flash Cannon blasted through the roots and hit Torterra head-on, knocking it out for the count.

Midori raised her right hand and announced the result. "Torterra is unable to battle. The winners are Shannon and Magnezone."

Nigel recalled his Pokémon, looking quite disappointed with the result of the battle. I had to admit, that Magnezone was very well trained and love of my life Shannon was fantastic at strategising. Midori walked up to me and popped a question to me. "So Bryan, do you want to battle me or Shannon?" She spoke softly, her voice having a certain foreign air to it. But then, really it's me whose voice is the foreign one. The boat _was_ headed to Gateon Port, Orre after all. I looked over the side of the boat and answered.

"I'll pass. We're almost at there now and… hang on." I had noticed that out of the four of us, two were missing. "Where are Nigel and Michelle?"

"Don't worry about them," Shannon reassured me. "Midori, what can we expect to see in Gateon?"

"Well it's a port, obviously. Uhm… what _is_ there… That's a good question, Shannon. Well, there's a lighthouse. You can see it from here," Midori said, pointing at a large tower in the distance. "It's the one on the left."

"The one on the right being…?" I asked, rather intrigued.

"I think that's Realgam Tower, a Pokémon Colosseum," she explained.

"Colosseum?" Suddenly, Shannon was the unsure one.

"Yeah, battle competitions are held there. There used to be a Colosseum in Phenac City but when Realgam Tower became open to the public, they shut it down. There were also two more in an underground town called The Under, my sister's hometown," Midori explained.

"What happened?" I asked.

"The town's gone. It was sealed off after the citizens moved to the surface," Midori told us. "And with it, so are the Colosseums."

"Oh…" I sighed, disappointed with the fact that many of the Colosseums were now closed.

A few minutes later, the boat arrived at Gateon Port. The five of us reunited and left the boat and headed for the Pokémon Centre. For tonight, we were going to rest and take in the best of what Gateon Port had to offer, the mission beginning tomorrow.

--

Author's notes: Yeah, this is the first chapter of many. A little quirk of this fic is that each of the five main characters are also the narrators, with each chapter being narrated by a different character. As you can tell, this one was narrated by Bryan, hence why it's called "Shipping the Cast Bryan". Each chapter will have the narrator's name in square brackets.

I know that not much happened in this chapter, but really it was an introduction to most of the characters.

The main worry with this chapter that I have is that I portrayed Shannon as being TOO good. That's probably because I deliberately gave her introduction from a biased POV, although I fear that I may have overdone it and made her a borderline Mary Sue. The fact she utterly whooped Nigel's backside might not have helped matters. Ah well.

Coming next: We Split (Midori).


	2. We Split

_Chapter 2: We Split (Midori)_

Oh, hi there. I hope you weren't totally bored with Bryan's descriptions of us. Then again, he talked about me so of course you weren't!

But seriously, it was evening and I was talking with Bryan and Shannon at Gateon Pokémon Centre. I was having a bit of trouble with my Pokétch, since altering the map systems to show Orre rather than Johto didn't seem possible. "Let me take a look at it," Shannon said. I passed her the Pokétch and she walked over to the nurse. "Do you know anywhere nearby that there could be parts for electronic goods?" Shannon asked.

Shannon's an odd soul, in my opinion. She seems to prefer the company of machines to people, so she can come over as a bit distant. Seriously, I've never seen her truly open up to anyone. She has some very odd habits, too. Like when she's indoors, she always takes her shoes off, regardless of what the building is. Says it's to help keep the floor clean but I have other ideas. Weird ideas, which I'm not sure I want to share with you. I mean fair enough if it's someone's home or a room that you're renting but even in shops? It just strikes me as weird.

But anyway, the nurse gave her some directions and Shannon was off. I figured I'd better try and make some kind of conversation with Bryan. After all, Nigel and Michelle weren't going to show up for a while. "So Bryan, what Pokémon have you brought with you for this mission?" I asked, rather interested in what he'd brought.

"I've brought my Exploud. What have you brought?"

I giggled a little to myself. "Infernape. I guess you don't want to fight that, do you?"

"Not really," he said, blushing a little.

Nigel walked in with a girl. She was about as tall as him with flowing brown hair. Yeah, our group's like some bad joke in that sense – a blonde, a brunette and a redhead. But anyway, about this girl, Michelle. She's very conscious of her appearance, being sure to keep her fair skin blemish-free and that her outfit doesn't clash with her bag or whatever; I don't really listen. In fact, that's probably why she was so late. I asked her, saying "Trying to look good for the Pokémon Centre, Michelle?", but she just snubbed me. I must admit, though, she did look good in that trilby hat she was wearing. Must have been worth it.

"Even if you can't appreciate the ins-and-outs of fashion and trying to look good, it seems that Nigel can," Michelle teased. "He was kind enough to wait for me while I prepared."

"I really don't get you some days, Michelle," I sighed, flicking my hair back. "So anyway, where are we staying tonight?"

"I don't mind just crashing on this couch," Bryan said.

The door opened and Shannon re-entered. She closed the door behind her and walked over, holding out my Pokétch. The screen was displaying an odd shape with a few black squares. I recognised it as a map of the Orre region. "Impressed?" Shannon asked, grinning with self-satisfaction.

"Yeah, that's cool. Seriously, why did we choose for me as the leader when really you're that much better?" I asked, genuinely impressed with her handiwork.

"Because you did the best out of us in the league," Nigel replied. "I must admit, princess, you surprised me a lot in Johto."

I blushed a little bit. "Why do you insist on calling me 'princess' anyway, Nige?"

"Are you really so dense, Midori?" Michelle asked. "It's obvious, really. He's in love with you."

Now it was Nigel's turn to feel embarrassed. "I… Actually, remember our meeting in Violet City?"

"Don't start, Nigel," I warned him.

Shannon chuckled a little bit. "Don't worry, Midori. Men are like that when it comes to expressing their love to us."

"Yeah, they think it makes them look a bit soft," Michelle added.

Shannon nodded. "That's exactly it, Shel. Can't risk looking silly, can they?"

I heard Bryan mutter something along the lines of "Hence why I keep quiet about it." I thought about what he meant by that, but disregarded it soon after.

We continued making small talk into the night, when our tiredness set in. In the end, we agreed to just sleep in the Pokémon Centre. The nurse didn't mind it, just so long as we didn't make a mess.

Morning came quickly enough. I was the last one up. In fact, I was sleeping heavily. Michelle tells me that they had to tickle me repeatedly to wake me up and I really can't say I'm surprised. I was always the late sleeper in my band and my big sister always said I was lazy apart from when I was working on my music. I'm getting better, though! I swear!

But anyway, we were all up and dressed and were discussing what to do. Michelle's PDA started beeping, meaning that she had received an e-mail. As expected, it was from the boss. We all took a look at the screen and read it.

"Dear Trainers,  
I hope that your voyage didn't leave you feeling seasick, since your job starts today. There are three assignments for you today:

1. Find a vehicle: The deserts of Orre are difficult to traverse on foot. As such, you must look around Gateon Port in order to find some personal transport vehicle, preferably motorised. A moped or similar would be ideal.

2. Visit Dr. Kaminko: Crackpot inventor Kaminko lives in a strange mansion out towards Pokémon HQ Lab. Apparently he's working on something huge and could need some assistance to get it out on time. This will require two of you in order to deal with his security-conscious assistant battling anyone who comes onto the property without hesitation. As such, I have selected Shannon (for her technical knowledge) and Bryan (for his physical strength) for this job.

3. Appear on ONBS: Orre's main news channel ONBS are expecting the rest of you to appear on TV today. They are located in Pyrite Town, far to the south-east. In your appearance, the three of you will be interviewed by ONBS's lead newscaster Ancha. You must state who you are and why you are here as part of the interview, but hopefully you should be prompted. The three of you who will be doing this job are Midori, Nigel and Michelle, since they are the three most familiar with the media.

That is all for today. Good luck.

Lance, Pokémon G-Men."

I took a second glance at the screen. "So that's it, then? Get a ride and head appear on TV?" I was making sure I had read the message correctly.

"Oh great. This is going to go to your head, princess," Nigel said, feigning fear. "Why do I have to go? I don't even like appearing on TV!"

"You're mad." I stuck my tongue out at the boy and stood up. "Anyway, I think we should head off and look around."

So we did. We went to the Krabby Club and got talking to the sailors there. We were in luck since one of them had an old motorbike with a side car parked out front, big enough to hold one person, with room for one more on the back. It looked safe enough, so I said to the owner "I'll tell you what. I'll buy it for fifty-thousand Poké-dollars." He agreed, so we finally had some transport.

"You'd better get going," Bryan told us.

"Don't worry about us," Shannon said. "Magnezone's easily strong enough to carry us both."

"We're riding that thing?" Bryan wasn't overly sure about riding a Pokémon, even though Shannon was pretty confident in Magnezone's strength. After all, it had beaten the very Torterra which knocked out a whole bunch of my Pokémon in the Johto League. That was in battle, however. I must admit that I had my doubts in its ability to carry people. However, if Shannon was sure about using Magnezone for personal transport, I wasn't going to question her, despite my concerns.

"Well, we're going now," I said. "Good luck on your mission."

"So who's driving, princess?" Nigel asked.

"I am, of course," I said, spinning my keys around my right pinky.

"I call the side car!" Michelle declared.

"That means you're sat behind me, Nigel."

We left the Krabby Club and looked again at our new ride. There were three helmets dumped in the side car. We each put one on and took positions. "You do know how to drive this thing, right?" Nigel asked, slightly worried.

"My sister's nuts about these things and she taught me. Don't worry!" I said, turning the motor on. Soon enough, we were out of the town and on the road to Pyrite Town. When we arrived on the outskirts of the town, I parked the bike and we all dismounted.

"That was mad," Nigel said, gasping. He had been gripping onto me for much of the journey, as if this was going to be his first, last and only ride. Michelle seemed a bit more trusting.

"I thought it was fun," she replied. "So, shall we move on?"

"I don't think so," a guy with an average build and green hair declared. He seemed to be in his twenties. "I'm Cail, the gatekeeper of Pyrite. I ain't letting you all in without a battle, even if you are all girls."

"Who are you calling a girl?!" Nigel yelled at Cail. "I swear, I'll knock you out if you…"

"Nigel, let us handle this," I said, blocking his path with my arm. "Cail, I'm Midori and this is my friend Michelle. That's Nigel." I gestured to the little hothead. "How would you like a battle with Michelle and me?"

"You can use two Pokémon, we'll use one each," Michelle added.

"Sounds fine to me. Go Shiftry and Gardevoir!" he called out, releasing his two Pokémon. I was a little bit shocked that he had sent out Gardevoir, since I only had Infernape to fight with.

"Go Blastoise!" Michelle called out, sending in her Pokémon. It roared loudly, as if to say "I don't care who you are or where you came from, you're still fodder for my cannons." Well, I assume that's what she was trying to say anyway.

I sent in Infernape, realising just what the two of us needed to do. "Michelle, you deal with Gardevoir. I'll keep Shiftry off your back, okay?"

"You got it! Blastoise, use Aqua Tail on Gardevoir!"

"Infernape, get Shiftry with Flare Blitz!"

"Blastoise is a Water-type, so use Solarbeam, Shiftry. I've never seen that other thing before, though, but it looks like a Fire Pokémon. Try a Psychic on it, Gardevoir!"

Infernape was first to move, its fur bursting into flame. He charged at his target, knocking it straight over with a lot of brute force, torching its hide as it collided. It was too much for Shiftry to handle, and it fainted before it could do anything. He makes me proud, my Infernape! What happened next though was very disappointing. Using the power of its mind, Gardevoir levitated Infernape and threw him backwards, scoring a quick KO. I was out of the battle, but luckily, Michelle wasn't. Cail and I withdrew our fainted Pokémon. Blastoise's tail became coated in water seeping from her cannons, with a large spiral of it forming a sort of extension which struck Gardevoir, weakening it severely.

"Now use Bite to wrap it up!" Michelle called out, hoping to finish the battle quickly.

"It's not over yet. Gardevoir, Thunderbolt!"

Gardevoir used its magical prowess to conjure up a bolt of lightning which struck Blastoise, making it roar in pain from the attack. Although it was powerful, it wasn't enough to stop Blastoise from running at Gardevoir and sinking her teeth into Gardevoir's waistline, throwing it to the ground with her mouth. Blastoise had won the battle, and it seemed like Cail was going to let us through.

"You did great, Gardevoir. Return," Cail said, recalling his Pokémon. "Well, you ladies certainly proved yourselves. However, I'll only let you through, but under one condition."

"_Great,"_ I thought. _"What's he going to make us do now? A striptease?!"_

"I got a Yanma a few months ago. A week later, this guy dressed in some weird armour battled me and won."

"No surprises there," Michelle muttered to me.

"Hey! If Shiftry hadn't been knocked out, you would have been toast!"

"But it wasn't and I wasn't."

"Yeah well, anyway… I battled and lost. Thing is, afterwards he punched me in the stomach and stole my Yanma, muttering something about its potential," Cail added, with slowly increasing anger with every word. Thankfully, he wasn't likely to snap any day soon.

"So you think we can find this guy and get back your Yanma, right?" I asked, guessing correctly what he was hinting at.

"Yeah… I've got to kinda… stay here and guard the gate so I can't do it myself," he said, embarrassed a little about asking for our help. I turned to look at Michelle then at Nigel before deciding on what we were going to do.

"Well that's what we were sent here to do," Nigel said, not overly happy with helping Cail, but recognising where his duties lay. Michelle also nodded. Her Blastoise also roared, eager to assist in any way possible.

"Thanks. So where are you headed? The Colosseum?"

"Not yet. After all, I've only got one Pokémon with me and thanks to your Gardevoir…" I said, slightly annoyed that Infernape went down so quickly. "Anyway, we've got an appointment at ONBS. We're supposed to be getting interviewed."

"Heh, good luck with that. We'll meet again," Cail said, grinning.

"Bye Cail!" Michelle flirtingly said as we set off down the street.

--

Author's notes: A bit of a longer chapter this time, from the looks of it. First canon character to appear in the flesh, as well as a few more being referred to: Perr, Lance, Kaminko and Chobin. Now that the premise is set up, we can finally get to work on getting this started properly.

You may have noticed that so far, everyone is using final evolution Pokémon (Torterra, Magnezone, Infernape, Blastoise, Gardevoir and Shiftry so far, for example), something not usually seen in Pokémon fics in the early stages. Don't worry, though. Plenty of unevolved Pokémon will get their time in the spotlight. I mean, we've just got a subplot with a Yanma set up, after all!

Coming next: Techno Isn't Quite Dead (Shannon).


	3. Techno Isn't Quite Dead Yet

_Chapter 3: Techno Isn't Quite Dead (Shannon)_

After Nigel and the girls had left, Bryan and I got talking. "So, Bryan, who do you like most in the group? Just based on impressions, you know," I asked, wanting to find out more about him. I looked into his eyes and he just sat there covering his face with his massive left hand. "What's the matter?" I was wondering what his reaction was all about, but I thought I could guess.

"It's nothing," he said, removing his hand to reveal his grey, beady eyes. The rest of his face was still hidden behind his embarrassment-obscuring hand. His black bandana had absorbed some of the sweat from his forehead. He then lowered his hand and told me, "If I'm honest, Shannon, it's you."

"You're just a big softie," I teased. "Let's ditch this place." I stood up and grabbed his hand. He was still uncomfortable with the situation, but at least he was willing to go with it. So I was leading him out of the club by the wrist, and the big guy was just not fighting. This felt so brilliant!

"So this Magnezone really can carry us both, right?" Bryan asked as we reached the door. It seemed that Midori's little talk wasn't enough to convince him.

"Just trust me," I said as we walked past the outdoor tables. I opened Magnezone's Poké Ball, calling "Magnezone, lend us some help!" Magnezone burst out and gave me its usual three-eyed stare. "I need you to let Bryan and I ride you for a few minutes, okay?"

Magnezone let out a low pitched "Zoooooone," showing that it wasn't too keen on the idea but was willing to do it. Magnetically lowering itself, Magnezone let me mount it, showing Bryan the proper way to get on.

"Right leg over the gap between the two Magnemite, sit down on the middle and get balanced," I explained, doing the right movements to my words. Bryan copied my movements and got comfortable on the other side. Magnezone lifted itself up but tilted somewhat, since rather than sitting I was actually lying down.

"You take my bag. That should balance us out," Bryan said, passing his rucksack over. I hung it on Magnezone's front magnet, to my right. Now we were balanced, I took a look at the map on my PokéGear. Kaminko's lab showed up on my map, so I was able to give directions. I leant back and gripped Magnezone's antenna, resting my feet on the top of the little Magnemite.

"See? I told you that Magnezone could manage," I said to Bryan as we arrived at the house. It seemed to be a mansion on the outside, but everything was ash grey; the walls, the dried-up fountain in the middle, the path and the withered trees, all a uniform grey.

"Is this it?" Bryan asked as we dismounted Magnezone.

"I guess so. I mean, it's the only place for miles and my map card says…" My sentence was cut short by a half-hearted exclamation.

"Oh, burglars. You must be here to try and steal from Dr. Kaminko. Kaminko's favourite assistant Chobin is here, and Chobin will stop… oh why bother," an undersized man with blue hair and wide rimmed, thick glasses declared (if you could call it a declaration). He was wearing a lab coat. "After last time, I'm not sure why I should bother battling you. But as the only assistant to Dr. Kaminko, it is my duty to see ne'er-do-wells off the property!"

"Okay then," I sighed, looking at Bryan. "Ready?"

"Of course. Let's go Exploud!" Bryan called out, releasing the large, purple noise-maker.

"Magne!" Magnezone shouted, taking its place next to Exploud.

"Chobin sends out Jumpluff and Gyarados, hoping that you don't beat Chobin too thoroughly," Chobin said, releasing his two Pokémon. He obviously didn't want to battle, and I wasn't overly bothered either, so I brought it up.

"Chobin, why are we fighting? We're not here to start anything and you really don't seem to want to fight."

He let out a small growl and then snapped at me. "Because you're really burglars who need to be driven from the property!"

I felt my right palm hit my face as I let out a very quiet "idiot". I shouted back to him "If we were burglars, I would have got my partner here to just make a run for the nearest open window."

Magnezone, Exploud, Jumpluff and Gyarados were obviously confused. The four of them were out of their Poké Balls and ready to battle, but they weren't fighting. Eventually, Exploud got bored and just bellowed "**EX!**" in order to get everyone's attention, but instead, we all just jumped, shocked from the sudden use of Hyper Voice. In fact, someone walked out of the mansion just to see what was going on. It was a lanky man, also dressed in a lab coat and glasses. His hair was extremely silly – it was tall, white and spiky, seeming to widen out as it got higher; a sort of upside-down cone. "Just what on earth is going on out here?!" he demanded.

"Doctor Kaminko! I caught these…" Chobin started, before Bryan cut him off.

"Bryan Hayward and Shannon Beck, Pokémon trainers. We were sent here by Lance to assist you with developing…" Bryan started. "Uh, Shannon? What was it he's developing?"

"Actually, the e-mail never said," I answered. "Apparently it's pretty important, though."

"Ah yes. That! In that case, come on in! You too, Chobin," Kaminko said, leading us into his home.

"Uhm… Return Gyarados and Jumpluff! Wait for Chobin, Doctor!" Chobin tried to catch up to Bryan, our two Pokémon and I. We had chosen to leave out Pokémon out in order to help.

We were inside, and much like outside, it was rather drab. There was once key difference though – instead of grey, everything was brown. Everything apart from a large plasma screen mounted on the wall. "Strange place for a TV," I commented.

"That's because I run things for my guests to watch. Chobin, run the DVD about… you know… that!" Kaminko grinned, eager to show us something on the screen. Chobin picked up a remote and pushed a few buttons, and the thing loaded.

"Did you pack any popcorn, Shannon?" Bryan chuckled.

"Chobin would like to remind you that this is not a cinema!" the one who has a thing for referring to himself in the third person quipped. "Chobin would also like to remind you that since that's the case, that means no making out during the movie!" Me and Bryan just glared at him.

The movie started. It showed a lot of shots of Kaminko piecing something together, with some narration from Chobin playing over it. "The Shadow Radar! A fantastic piece of innovation from Dr. Kaminko, the Shadow Radar will have a range the size of Orre! Using the Shadow Radar, we can pinpoint the exact positions of any Shadow Pokémon in the region! Or something at least, since we have picked some things up on the prototypes. Chobin thinks this will give the citizens of Orre an edge if those nefarious Cipher goons ever choose to try anything again! Truly fantastic!"

"About six or so years late, aren't we?" Bryan noted.

"Besides, how can you check if what you picked up is actually a Shadow Pokémon?" I asked.

The doctor answered. "We don't."

"But we do know that something is afoot!" Chobin added.

"That is why I have begun development of the Shadow Radar PDA Upgrade," Doctor Kaminko explained. "Access to this information anywhere and everywhere! Think of the potential!"

"Sounds like you don't need any more help with it," I sighed, somewhat disappointed. "Although, if you're right about the blips being picked up being Shadow Pokémon, I would love to see how it works."

Chobin cleared his throat. "About that. You see, we aren't quite finished. Currently, it only covers here, Gateon Port, Pokémon HQ Lab, Mt. Battle and Agate Village. It needs a signal booster installing, and that needs a lot of moving heavy, steel objects."

"So you actually don't need technical help?" I asked, slightly disappointed. "Well great. What am I going to do here?"

"Oh, a technical mind, hmm? Lance told me that between you, you have four different electronic trainer aids, each of a different kind. See if you can adapt the PDA for them, okay?" Kaminko requested.

"I'll try. I'm better at building and mending things than writing software but I'll give it a go," I told him.

"In that case, Chobin recommends that you think of it as the software being broken since it only works with PDA. You fix it by making it work with other things."

Bryan threw his PokéNav over to me. "This whole thing sounds nuts, but I'm not going to complain. But yeah, he said that there would be a lot of moving steel objects. You don't mind me borrowing Magnezone for that, do you?"

I carefully caught the PokéNav and held it to my chest. "Not at all." I then turned to the doctor. "Lead on, doc."

Chobin and Kaminko led us to a room at the bottom of the mansion. There was a computer there, where I was going to be working. For now, we were going to take a look at the radar. It was surprisingly well constructed, apart from the connection to the power source which was more makeshift than anything. Chobin talked us through how it worked, then gave Bryan some instructions. I went back upstairs and began work on reprogramming the PDA software for use with my Poké Gear.

It took a while to convert the data into a Poké Gear card format, but it was worth it. The next job was turning it into a PokéNav function, which was going to be a bit more difficult. While I was in the middle of it, my Poké Gear started beeping. I had got a call from Midori, so I answered. "What's up, Midori?"

"We've just finished filming the interview. It's gone pretty well and we got everything we needed to say out. What are you up to?" she asked.

"I'm working on something for Bryan's PokéNav. After that, I've got to convert it into a Pokétch app. I'm going to be here for a while, so yeah…"

"Oh, cool! What is it you're working on?" Midori seemed excited by the prospect of another update for her Pokétch.

"It's weird. I'll explain when we meet up," I replied, not knowing what she'd make of something which in terms of explanation would be redundant, although it seemed to have some use.

About five minutes later, Bryan's PokéNav was updated. Next was the Pokétch, but at least this time I knew what to do and how to do it. Downstairs, there was a lot of shouting and moving things, but it seemed like the men and the Pokémon were getting something done. A few minutes later, Bryan came back up. "How's it going?" he asked me, probably just a polite way of saying "Is my PokéNav ready?". I always thought males were a bit more forward with such things. Unless…

"It's done," I said, passing him the little gadget. "Just got to wait for it to finish converting into a Pokétch file. I won't bore you with techno babble, but it's just a case of saving it as a different file type. Recoding it takes a while though."

"I thought you said no techno babble," Bryan replied, a bit confused.

I looked up at him. "Oh, sorry. I tried to use simple, standard terms."

"It's alright. I guess you can't help it sometimes. It's like when I first taught my Exploud about kiai when she was a Whismur and…"

"What's 'kiai'?" I asked, cutting him off.

"I would explain, but that would be the martial artist's equivalent of 'techno babble'," Bryan teased. I stuck my tongue out at him and looked back at my screen.

"Midori called. Successful mission, apparently. How did things go down there?"

"All done. Take a look at your Poké Gear," Bryan said, testing out the new Shadow Tracker on his PokéNav. "That's odd," he noted, looking at his PokéNav, slightly confused. "Shannon, does it look like there's something moving towards us somewhat rapidly?"

I opened up the Shadow Tracker on my Poké Gear. "Yeah, it's somewhat big, too. I wonder what it is."

Chobin, Kaminko, Exploud and Magnezone rushed upstairs. "Something's coming!" Chobin panicked. "Something big!"

"If it **is** a Pokémon, it's probably travelling underground or flying. That line's too straight to be something moving over land," I reasoned. As the dot on the tracker moved ever closer, we could feel some rumbling. "Chances are that it's underground though!"

When the rumbling stopped, we looked outside. It was as I suspected – whatever it was had burrowed its way here. It was a Steelix, being ridden by a large man in indigo armour. "Well it was good of your friends to point out your location in that interview!" the man bellowed. "Steelix, are you ready to deal with this potential threat to the cult's plan?" The Steelix roared as loud as his trainer. "Good! Now, which of you wants to take me on first?"

"Oh goodness," Chobin grimaced. "They're back!"

"They?" I asked, slightly stunned by the whole thing.

"The ones who came here and took Chobin's Tropius! Chobin loved that Tropius!" Chobin shouted, angrily.

"Well then, let's deal with it! Ready Magnezone?" I asked the electric Pokémon, who seemed eager to battle.

"Cool it, Shannon," Bryan said, stepping in front of me. "Against a Steelix, Magnezone has nothing. Let me deal with it. Exploud, Water Pulse!"

"Shadow Guard, Steelix!"

A purple aura surrounded Steelix, guarding it against the worst of Exploud's attack.

"Try another Water Pulse!" Bryan called out, shocked that the attack did almost nothing.

"Shadow End!" the armoured man commanded, apparently eager to show off the sheer power of his Steelix.

Steelix roared loudly and rammed Exploud as hard as it possibly could, knocking Exploud down and out. Bryan ran over and tried to get Exploud to stand up, but it wasn't going to work. Exploud was out, Magnezone was useless and there was little chance that Kaminko or Chobin had the strength to fight back. I pressed a few buttons on my Poké Gear and called Midori. "Hello, Midori? It's Shannon. It's an emergency. Get yourself, Nigel and Michelle here now, since we need some help!"

--

Author's notes: This is probably my least favourite chapter so far. Thankfully, I think I had pretty much done what I intended to in this chapter – attempt to nullify Shannon's "Mary Sue" factor. Plus, for the first time ever, somebody has beaten one of the group's members without losing a Pokémon in the process, not counting Shannon and Nigel's opening battle.

So now not only has a Yanma gone missing, but now a Tropius, too. That, and a "cult" has shown up with a Shadow Steelix. Seems that Cipher's back. But wait! Cipher wasn't a cult! So what exactly is going on? More on that later, of course. Like I'm going to put the whole plot in the author's notes! Kinda defeats the point of making a fic, you know.

Also, for the record, "kiai" is a martial arts term, derived from Japanese, pronounced like "key-eye". It's a sort of battle cry, used to intimidate or psyche-out the opponent, usually something along the lines of "HI-YAH!" or "AI-YAH!". Considering that Bryan's a martial arts expert with an Exploud, it's pretty synergetic. Also, thanks to that little author's note, you've learned something! Entertainment and education in one fic. It's like… entertation!

Coming next: I (don't) Wanna Be On TV (Nigel).


	4. I don't Wanna Be On TV

Chapter 4: I (don't) Wanna Be On TV (Nigel)

_Chapter 4: I (don't) Wanna Be On TV (Nigel)_

Before I tell you the next part of my tale, there's something you should know. Although all five of us are fluent in English, it isn't my native language. The same goes for Shannon, Bryan and Michelle. Midori on the other hand, is a native English speaker. When we were back in Johto, we all spoke in my native language. Now we speak English in order to mix with the others a bit more.

We were at ONBS, waiting in the dressing room that was rented. Lance was paying for it, so we figured we should make good use of it. We were making some casual chit-chat, when Michelle said something. "You know, Nigel, I noticed something."

"What's that?"

"Midori is the only girl you call 'princess', yeah?"

"What of it?" I asked, not liking to talk about how I refer to our group's leader.

"Well, that would kinda make her your princess," Michelle explained.

"My princess?" I repeated, blushing a little.

Midori started giggling. "Oh, I see what you did there, Nigey-boy! 'Midori is my princess'. Too good!"

Michelle started laughing too. "Of course! Our word for princess! It's 'hime', isn't it?"

"My hi… wait," I said, slightly embarrassed for not noticing earlier. "Well played, you two. Midori, my hime." I chuckled a little at the coincidence.

"Funnier still, we both have the same hair colour," the real Midori said, flicking her hair.

"What are you talking about? You're blonde," Michelle argued.

I explained. "Midori dyes."

The other two girls gasped. "You're joking?" Midori gasped. "She can't die! She's the funniest one!"

"Thanks for spoiling it, jerk!" Michelle added.

"I meant the immature group leader," I replied. "And not as in 'gets killed', either." Like that helped. I just confused things further. An awkward silence passed for twenty seconds, before the peroxide-head spoke.

"Oh! You meant me and my hair!" she said, her face turning a vibrant scarlet.

"Maybe you're the future incarnation of the other Midori," I joked.

"Maybe I'm a…" Midori started, leaving her sentence unfinished as she started tapping her foot. It tapped four times quickly before stopping for half a second and repeating. "I do enjoy the sound of drums, being a rock ar_tiste_."

"Okay you two, cut the silliness. We're on in a minute," Michelle said, getting up. "In fact, we should probably head over there now."

Midori and I agreed and the three of us began to amble over to the studio. The security guard, dressed in some weird indigo armour, let us in. The news had cut to a commercial break, so we weren't interrupting anything. We were told to sit down behind the desk, with me between the two girls, Midori to my left and Michelle to my right. The theme music cut in and the cameras began rolling.

"Welcome back to ONBS News. Coming up: Sinnoh's Combee population is in decline. Conservationists are meeting in Jubilife City to discuss the crisis. But first, the recent wave of Pokémon disappearances that has hit Orre could be coming to a slowdown. Lance, head of the Pokémon Leagues of Kanto and Johto has dispatched five Pokémon Trainers to Orre to investigate the disappearances. Today, we have three of the five trainers with us." Ancha read from the autocue, before introducing us. "From right to left, Midori Fujioka, Nigel Greenbaum and Michelle Marshall. Welcome to ONBS News."

Midori smiled. "It's good to be here, Ancha."

"My first question is for Midori. According to the information here, it says that you're originally from Phenac City. Is this true?"

"Well, yeah actually. It's kinda funny, but I was born in Phenac, but my family moved to Goldenrod, Johto when I was little," Midori explained. "That happened when I was about five, so that was… twelve years ago."

She was pretending to be seventeen. I wonder where she got that idea.

"Come on, princess! Like anyone would believe that you're seventeen!" I teased.

"Okay then, time for my next question. There are five of you. Where are the other two at the moment?"

As Ancha asked the question, I noticed the security guard suddenly take interest. I was a little bit hesitant, but answered the question anyway. "They're at Dr. Kaminko's house, working on some invention." The guard then seemed to run off.

"I see. Is there any other information on this invention?"

Michelle shook her head. "Sorry. The e-mail I received didn't disclose that information."

The interview went on for about ten more minutes. Really, I learned nothing about those two that I didn't know already and I didn't disclose any secrets that hadn't been told among us before. After the interview, Midori called Shannon on her cell-phone, telling all about how it went – flawlessly, despite my early worries.

We went outside to think about where to go next. The security guard from earlier was outside with a Steelix. "Now Steelix, use Dig. I have a mission."

"Excuse me," I called out to the security guard, but the guy was gone with his iron serpent Pokémon. I then looked back at Midori and Michelle. "Wonder what's up with him."

"I dunno. Maybe we should find something to do. We could find some leads on this Yanma but where?" Midori pondered. "For now, we could train at the Colosseum. What do you guys think?"

"I think there's something up with that security guard. He sure acted suspicious," I said. "Cail said that the guy who took it wore armour, too."

Michelle shrugged. "We can't track him down easily, though. None of our Pokémon can dig."

"Good point. Colosseum it is, then?" I said, looking at the two girls.

"Sure thing," Midori said, holding onto my hand. "What do you think, Michelle?"

"I think that's a good idea," Michelle agreed.

We headed over to Pyrite Colosseum, Midori and I still holding hands. Before we went to sign up, Midori healed her Infernape in the machine.

"The three of us would like to enter the Colosseum Knockout Challenge," I told the receptionist. "We've got one Pokémon each. Is that okay?"

"Sorry," the receptionist told us. "All the battles here are double battles. As such, you'll need at least two."

"I know what we can do then," I thought aloud. "Girls, can I borrow your Pokémon?"

Midori passed me Infernape's Poké Ball. "You do know what attacks it can use, right?" she asked, worrying a little for the fiery simian.

I smiled at her. "Swords Dance, Flare Blitz, Shadow Claw, Close Combat. Don't worry, princess. I won't let him go down so easily."

"Take care of Blastoise," Michelle said, passing me her Pokémon's ball. "She knows Aqua Tail, Bite, Protect and Ice Punch, by the way."

"Like I told Midori, don't worry!" I told Michelle. "You two get into the audience and watch what your Pokémon can do."

Round one. I was up against a girl calling herself Kiani, who sent out Aipom and Pidgeotto. I played it logically and sent in Infernape and Blastoise, getting wild applause from the audience, many of them being unfamiliar with Midori's monkey Pokémon. The princess herself in particular was excited to see her Pokémon in the tourney. Winning the battle was going to be easy. Although Kiani ordered two Double Team moves from her Pokémon, they weren't quick enough to avoid Infernape's Close Combat and Blastoise's Ice Punch. Using advantages of element, I was able to knock out both Pokémon in a single attack.

Quarter finals. This time, I was up against a guy called Gregger. His two Pokémon were Marshtomp and Camerupt. Just great – a Ground-type trainer. There was only one thing for it. Two words: Turtle power! Torterra and Blastoise went into the fray. Camerupt was commanded to use Endure and Marshtomp used Earthquake. Little did I know that Marshtomp was using an item imported from Sinnoh – a Focus Sash. Torterra used Frenzy Plant, as commanded, the thick roots striking down Marshtomp and pinning it down. Blastoise struck Camerupt down with a water-covered tail, but it wasn't out. Marshtomp channelled the energy stored in the sash and made the ground shake, catching my two Pokémon off guard.

Next, I had Blastoise attack Marshtomp with a Bite attack, finishing it off. Camerupt counterattacked with Overheat, attacking Torterra, who was immobile after using Frenzy Plant.

To finish Camerupt off, I ordered a swift Seed Bomb. I was through to the third round.

The semi-finals. A bit more difficult this time, my opponent, a twenty-something woman called Rina, sent in a Feraligatr and a Meganium. My two Pokémon were going to be Infernape and Torterra, but Midori had fought her way to the front of the audience and was shouting something. I made out a few words. "Kaminko's… Shannon… Trouble… Steelix…" I thought of what she could have meant. The battle had to go on, but how could I continue if there was an emergency? Whatever I did, it would have to be fast. I would have ordered a Flare Blitz on Meganium and a Frenzy Plant on Feraligatr in order to wrap up the battle quickly. I instead recalled the two Pokémon and left the arena. I told Rina to go on in my place, since we couldn't continue.

Back at the entrance to the Colosseum, I gave the girls their Pokémon back. Now we had to head to Kaminko's lab. Midori explained what had happened as we headed back.

--

Author's Notes: I had a bit of a struggle with writers' block this time, hence the lower quality.

There are quite a lot of references to other fiction here. Some are more obvious than others but three series in particular were referenced. My-HiME obviously. There's a character called Midori who's actually 20-something but claims 17 (although their real ages differ – Orre Enigma Midori's 22 and MH Midori's 24. Plus, OE Midori's not going to make a habit of it), the whole hime/HiME thing etc. Doctor Who, too. The sound of drums and the (Com)bees disappearing, anyone? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, too: "Turtle power!" I won't make it an ongoing thing. I just thought "TV station. It's reference time!"

…Or did I? Am I actually hinting that OE Midori is a Time Lord and regenerated from MH Midori? Is Nigel secretly working with the Turtles? Of course not! I don't like crossovers!

Coming next: Who the Hell Are "The Cult of Eclo"?! (Midori).


	5. Who the Hell Are The Cult of Eclo?

Chapter 5: Who the Hell Are "The Cult of Eclo"

_Chapter 5: Who the Hell Are "The Cult of Eclo"?! (Midori)_

After a flawless interview, everything was suddenly going wrong. Nigel was especially annoyed, since he reckoned he could have won at the Colosseum. I was rather angry, too. The whole thing was making me feel panicky. If this Steelix was using an unknown attack, how were we supposed to know how to counter it? Besides, Exploud was Bryan's most powerful Pokémon, yet it got beaten so quickly.

We pulled up to the entrance of the mansion. Shannon was attempting to subdue the Steelix, but was struggling badly. Magnezone had it trapped with its Magnet Pull and shot a beam of white light at it, a move I recognised as Flash Cannon. The opponent ordered a Dig, which sent Steelix underground.

"Magnezone, Magnet Rise!" Shannon called out, not expecting to win. Steelix resurfaced and tried to ram Magnezone, who hovered to avoid the attack.

"Good job, geek! You're obviously good enough to have survived so far. The battle's over now, though! Steelix, Shadow End!" the armour guy shouted.

"This is it, Magnezone. Use Fl…" Shannon started, but Michelle called out to her.

"We're back! I'll take over once Magnezone's gone, so use Rain Dance!"

"Right then! Rain Dance!"

Magnezone's magnets began twisting, altering the weather conditions. The usually overcast skies burst into a heavy downpour making Steelix growl a bit as he rammed Magnezone, knocking the opponent out.

"We've done enough, Magnezone. Return!" Shannon withdrew Magnezone from the battle as Michelle stepped in. Some kind of purple barrier was surrounding Steelix, which had made Flash Cannon even more ineffective than usual. Shannon knew what to do, though. She threw Blastoise's Poké Ball, calling out her first attack.

"Blastoise, attack it with Brick Break!"

"Steelix, Dig!"

Blastoise rammed Steelix had, then punched through the purple shield, shattering it. Steelix hid underground from the next attack, but Shannon wasn't overly bothered.

"Protect!"

Blastoise withdrew into her shell, which protected it from any injury that Steelix's ramming attack could have caused. In fact, all that Steelix managed to accomplish was making Blastoise spin around a bit. Blastoise didn't care a bit and was ready to attack on the next turn.

"Blastoise, use Aqua Tail, and make it quick!"

"Use Shadow End, Steelix."

By now, Steelix was exhausted, having defeated two Pokémon already and being nearly beaten by Blastoise. It began to charge at Blastoise again, who coated her tail in water, extending the water into a large whip, crashing down on Steelix's head. Steelix roared in pain, collapsing to the ground in a heap, before being recalled by the armoured hulk.

"Infernape, come out! Block the exit!" I called out, sending in my only Pokémon. Infernape burst out, ready to fend off the man if he came near. Something then started beeping. It was three long notes, somewhat low pitched. The man pressed a button on the right-hand side of his helmet.

"Clara! The brainy one! What news? …Yes, I've encountered some unexpected resistance. They took out Steelix. …No, I've only recognised two of their Pokémon so far. Blastoise and Exploud. …What?! …Well fine then. Thane, Cult of Eclo Head Enforcer out," he said into his helmet. I assumed Clara to be some kind of superior to him, or leader of some other group.

"Cult of Eclo?" I asked, never hearing that name before. "Just who are you? Talk, or I'll use my authority to do something which only four other people in Orre are allowed to do. Infernape, Swords Dance!"

"You talk big, girly!" Thane grinned. Some lights shone red on his left arm. He brought something out of a pocket on his armour. It was purple on top and white on the bottom, spherical and marked with an "M". "Go Snag Master Ball!" I watched distraughtly as my one Pokémon disappeared into the ball. "I am disappointed, girly. I wouldn't have thought that someone with your strength would be so easily beaten. Same goes for you, Mr. Kung Fu." He ran at me and pushed me aside, hopping onto my motorbike and driving off.

"KEN'ICHI!" I screamed. "First Infernape and now Ken'ichi!" I was growing so used to that bike that I had begun to feel a sort of bliss riding it.

"You named the bike 'Ken'ichi'? That's kinda…" Shannon started. I started breathing heavily, trying to resist the urge to pick a fight with her. "Well, it's…"

"It's what?" I demanded. "Go on! Say it!" I grabbed Shannon by the shoulders and lifted her. "Tell me what you were going to say!"

Shannon pushed me backwards. I jolted and let go. "I was going to say that it's somewhat weird."

"You've got no right to comment on weirdness, barefoot!" I snapped back at her.

Bryan then stepped between us. "Midori, stop! Leave Shannon alone! She didn't do anything!"

"Me neither, so stop ganging up on me!" I shouted.

"You tried to attack her!"

Nigel then started. "Please, princess. Calm down. You're supposed to be leading us, for goodness' sake!" He then put his arms around me. "Don't fight. I love you, but I hate seeing you like this."

I then whimpered a little, holding Nigel tighter. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I feel so terrible and useless. I just seem to lose those that I care about so easily, don't I? I just lost my bike, my Infernape and I made… I made enemies of Shannon and Bryan!"

"Prin, uhm Midori," Nigel whispered to me. "The bike can be replaced. Don't worry about it."

Shannon said something to me. "I would just like to say that what I said was out of order. I shouldn't have said it when you were so upset. I'm… I'm sorry."

"That doesn't bring back Infernape, does it?" I groaned, letting go of Nigel. "Besides, how are we going to find it? We don't even know who the Cult of Eclo are or where to start looking."

"Even if we did, how are we going to get there?" Michelle asked. "Magnezone's only big enough to carry two people."

"Well, I have a possible solution to the first problem," Shannon said, pressing a few buttons on her PokéGear. "Introducing the Shadow Tracker," she said, showing off the thing on her wrist. "It uses some new technology developed by Dr. Kaminko to locate Shadow Pokémon. Thanks to me, it is now compatible with the PokéGear, PokéNav, Pokétch and Digital Town Map systems. Kaminko originally developed it to display on the PDA, so we can all use one each."

I had calmed down in order to listen to Shannon properly. "And it works?" I asked, not believing slightly.

"Well it tracked that Steelix, didn't it Bryan?" Shannon smiled.

"Yeah, we saw it coming and fended it off until you arrived," Bryan explained.

Nigel gasped. "I just realised something! Midori, Michelle, there was that security guard from ONBS. Thane was the security guard!"

"That'll be why he said you gave away our location in the interview – he was there," Shannon reasoned. "Oh, guys? Can I just borrow your Pokétch, Map and PDA for a minute? I need to add the Shadow Tracker to them." The three of us passed the items to Shannon, who pushed a few buttons on both, transferring the data for the Shadow Tracker to each wirelessly. A few bleeps on each confirmed that the three machines were ready. "There's one limitation to this technology. It only detects Shadow Pokémon that aren't in their Poké Balls. Those inside have a sort of shielding, preventing them from being spotted."

A lanky man in a lab coat with white hair that stuck up in massive spikes walked out. "Talking about my invention, are we?"

"Doctor! Could you do us a massive favour?" Shannon asked. "We need a new transport since the old one got stolen."

"For three, yes?"

"Yeah, three. Midori's motorbike was stolen, along with her Pokémon."

"Hmm… Yes, interesting. I see. This is fascinating," Kaminko said, although with a touch of grimace. Which one of you is Midori?"

"I am." I stepped forwards.

"Rest for a while. Contact your boss and find out what you can do. Two of you should head to Professor Krane's laboratory and ask about Snag Machines. I'll contact him and let you know you're coming."

"Only two of us can go on ahead, though," Michelle protested.

"I'll go. Who's coming with me?" Shannon said, throwing and catching Magnezone's Poké Ball.

"I'm going to stay here with Midori. She needs me," Nigel told the others. "She's taken everything that happened to her badly and I know her better than the rest of you."

"Nigel…" I sighed, struck suddenly by his selflessness. Nigel and I have a strange relationship. I first met him when I was travelling Johto last year. He had a Houndour and I had a Murkrow. The two of us battled and I won. He was a real jerk about losing, though, claiming that I wasn't responsible for Murkrow's win and that it was all luck that made me win.

A few days later, we met in Violet City, just after I won at the gym. He was still a bit annoyed that I had beaten him and now Falkner too. It was then that he said something to me. He basically admitted that I had some skill, but it was by no means enough to take on the league. Of course, that made me annoyed and I vowed to absolutely crush him at the league. He then turned his nose at me and said "Whatever, princess of the idiots!"

After that, we met again at Goldenrod City. He saw me battling Whitney, where my Monferno narrowly beat her Miltank. He had lost earlier, and I noticed him feeling rather annoyed by it. I'm not sure what annoyed him more – the fact the he lost or that I hadn't. I didn't get an answer from him then and he's still not told me since. I talked to him, encouraging him not to give up. I think my words were something like "Come on, Nigel! How can I absolutely smash you at the league if you can't win the badges?"

This got him very annoyed, and he snapped "I told you before, that's never going to happen, princess!"

"Of course it isn't if you don't try again! Look, how are you going to prove me wrong if you can't even get the Plain Badge?" I teased.

The next day, he tried again and won. After the battle, his Turtwig evolved into Grotle. I smiled, knowing that it was my teasing that encouraged him to win. He then asked me if he could travel with me permanently. I was so pleased to have company on my journey that I instantly said yes. Throughout the journey in Johto, the two of us have had a relationship pretty much based on our mutual dislike of each other, but that brought us together and began to make us like each other. It's weird, I know, but that's just how it happened. It's funny – Nigel is both the best and the worst thing to ever happen to me, both at the same time.

Back in the present, I was so pleased to have Nigel showing a side which contrasts so sharply with what he was like when we first met, I just grabbed his hand and headed inside. Watching from out of the window, it looked like Michelle was going with Shannon, leaving Bryan with us. I went to sit down on the nearest couch and sighed, disgusted with my behaviour. I was supposed to be leading the group, but it suddenly looked like I was a spare wheel on one of those cute little hoverscooters some of the people in Orre have – superfluous. "Nigel, when was the last time I showed such anger? I don't remember."

"I think it was that time back in Mahogany Town where you battled Pryce's daughter for a Glacier Badge. She was being all snobby and acting like I wasn't worthy of battling her so…" Nigel said, rubbing my shoulders, soothingly.

"Oh yeah. Well, nobody treats my friends like that. Not even me," I reasoned.

Nigel snorted, not believing what he heard. "We're friends this week?"

"To me, we've been friends since Goldenrod."

Bryan walked in. "Oh, am I interrupting something?"

"No," I said, yawning. "Do me a favour, will you, Bryan?"

"What?"

"Contact Lance. Tell him what happened. I really don't feel up to doing it."

Bryan scowled. "Why would I do anything for you after how you treated Shannon?"

"What? Shannon's fine with it. She forgave me, remember?" I remarked.

"It's the principle of it, Midori," he retorted. "I've never said it to her, but I love Shannon. She's a genius and so beautiful. I don't want people harming her. Besides, if you try anything like that again, well just remember. I know all about martial arts. Don't make me use them."

I was shocked by what he was saying. "Shannon would hate you if you did. Lance put me in charge, so that would technically count as mutiny."

Bryan grumbled. "Fine. I'll tell him everything, including what you did!" He then walked away, pressing some buttons on his PokéNav.

"Tell him that, and you also tell him that Shannon forgave her, you got it?" Nigel shouted back at him. "If you're telling him the whole story, make sure it really is the whole story!"

"I can defend myself, Nigel," I said, rubbing my eyes. "Let's just relax for a bit. Today's been stressful for most of us." My eyes closed themselves as I moaned a little joyously as Nigel massaged my shoulders in my sleep.

--

Author's Notes: This is probably the most emotional chapter yet. Rage and love. No, Midori is not the Jesus of Suburbia. I should probably be executed for that one.

Also, fastest update time yet. Whoo-hoo?

Coming next: Escape the Shadows (Infernape).

(No, that is not a typo.)


	6. Escape the Shadows

_Chapter 6: Escape the Shadows (Infernape)_

(Activating Pokédex translation systems.)

(Pokédex translation systems active.)

Having spent many of my days with my trainer Midori, I have learned to understand human speech. In two languages, no less. I guess that's one of the joys of having a bilingual trainer – you get used to her speaking in two very different ways.

So, this armoured guy called Thane captured me. I was extremely annoyed with this, but I couldn't break out. Master Balls have a deadlock seal on them, trapping the Pokémon inside with no way of escaping. Once the ball is shut, there is no escape until the trainer lets you out. This is particularly frustrating, since many Pokémon have a sixth sense which alerts them to when the trainer may be in danger. How are we supposed to help if we're trapped in a sphere?

I figured that since I had no way of getting out, I might as well have just rested until I was let out. So I did. When I awoke, I was still in the ball, but a few seconds later, I felt the ball opening. Could it be? Liberation?

No such luck. From the ball, I found myself in a sturdy plexiglass cage. I could see out of it. There were many other cages like mine, all empty. It seemed so barren and hopeless in here. The walls of the room were white, with a white ceiling and white tiles on the floor. There was a pair of bowls in the corner, one with water in it and the other with some dry food. I took a handful and ate it. You could probably live off it, but it wasn't very tasty or filling. Wherever I was, it was hellish. _"Where are you, Midori?"_ I asked myself.

A few minutes later, I saw the man who brought me here again. "Frisky one, that one. That's the third time this week it's tried to break out," he said. There was a girl with him, who was tall and busty, wearing a somewhat unflattering outfit of black. Her skin was pale as the room, as was her hair, which took a slightly creamy tone to it.

"Thane, let me see this Pokémon you caught," she said, quietly. Her voice was soft, but had a very malevolent tone to it. With her pale appearance and attire, she was very scary.

"It's in this box here, Mistress Yuuna," Thane told her, crouching down to the level where I was sitting. He pointed at me. "The girl who had this thing called it an Infernape."

Yuuna dropped to her knees and bent over to take a better look. "I see. Thane, this Pokémon looks like a powerful Pokémon indeed. Very good work." Her eyes scared me. They seemed so different from any human eyes I'd seen before. Blue, brown, green, grey. Those are all colours of eyes I had seen before. Pink was a colour I'd never seen before, though. Maybe she was one of those albino humans, the human equivalent to a rare colour Pokémon. "Hello Infernape. There is no need to be scared of me. Relax yourself," she told me. I screamed at her angrily, trying to express the anger of having my personal freedom limited. "Now now. For that, I'll see your food supply for the day cut off."

Not that I cared much. Their food was terrible. I snarled a little at Yuuna just to let her know that I wasn't going to go down so easily next time, but she could have her own personal victory this time.

"That's a good Infernape." Yuuna and Thane stood back up. "I'll put this Yanma in this box here. You go to the Cult meeting at Ein's former lab, I'll catch up."

"Yes Mistress."

Thane walked away, leaving just Yuuna. She opened the door to one of the cages and opened a Net Ball, which contained a Bug Pokémon which I had seen a few times before. It was a Yanma, and from the looks of it, not a particularly smart one. Yuuna shut the door and locked it. Walking out of the room, she stopped for a second to glare at me once more. "Behave. We'd hate to have you starve to death. That would never do, would it?"

"Bitch," I just muttered. Not that she could make out what I said, since it was like I just said "In". She just scoffed and walked out.

"Yan! Yan! Yaaan! Yan!" the Yanma in the other cage kept shouting as it kept ramming the glass.

I called over to it. "What are you trying to do?"

"Trying to fly around this room. Somebody's used Reflect, though. Cunning, aren't they?" Yanma answered.

"Idiot! That's glass! Although, you've given me an idea," I replied. I howled and pirouetted.

Yanma tilted its head, curiously. "Was that a Swords Dance?"

"Yeah. And now…" I breathed in and flexed my muscles, the fire on my head coating my fur. "FLARE BLI-I-I-ITZ!" I charged at the glass, body alight. The glass shattered and I continued through, even smashing through the next cage. I only just managed to stop, a few inches before the wall.

"That was cool. Not sure what it accomplished, but it was cool," Yanma told me.

I clasped my face in my palm. "I was showing you that it's not a Reflect, but actually glass. Now, do you want to get out of here or not? I mean, we stay here and we're finished. The food's horrible and I don't fancy living in a glass box filled up with my own dookie and shed hair. Or worse, you know. I have no idea where we are."

"You're in a lab! Welcome to a lab! It's a horrible lab where they make Pokémon heartless killing machines. And I, Yanma, welcome you to it!" the scatterbrained bug said, jovially.

"So in short, if we don't get out of here, we're doomed?" I groaned.

Yanma grinned manically. "Yes yes! We're utterly doomed! Buggered, damned, ruined and predestined towards disaster! Doo-oo-oo-oomed!"

"So how well do you know this place?" I asked, trying to put up with the insect's silliness.

"I, Yanma, know the place like the back of my wing! I'll guide you out of here!" Yanma tried to ram the glass wall again. "FLARE BLI-I-I-I-I-I-I-ISSEY!" she screamed as she rammed it.

"That won't work. I mean, I've never seen a Yanma use Flare Blitz before. Blitz, that is. Not Blissey," I grumbled.

"Oh. Right. Can you help then?"

I stood up and walked around to the correct window. "Stand back. Wouldn't want you getting singed," I said as I prepared myself for another attack. "Well, not stand but just get out of the way." Body aflame again, I charged through the window, screaming "Flare Blitz". I went a bit slower again, to avoid a calamitous crash with the wall. The glass shattered and again, I stopped a few inches from the wall.

"Ooh! You're good, firey-man. What's your name?" Yanma said, hovering around my head.

"Infernape. Weren't you listening to how I was speaking?" I groaned.

"It was that or I called you 'Napinferin', you know," Yanma grinned. "So yeah, follow me."

Following behind the mad insect, I made a casual observation. "I'm suddenly reminded of a silly cartoon my trainer's little sister used to watch about two cartoon Rattata. One was an utter genius and the other was absolutely mad. They lived in a lab and the smart one would try and take over the world, every single night. Of course, they failed every night."

"Oh! Fun! Fun! Fun! I can be the smart one, you be the crazy one!"

I just didn't have the heart to tell her. I really didn't.

"It's this way! Follow, follow!" Yanma said, flying on ahead. I began running, trying to keep up.

"Slow down, Yanma!" I called out to her. Strangely, she stopped and looked up.

"Up here. You can't fly though, can you?" Yanma called out to me. She was staring at an entrance to an air vent.

"I'm an Infernape. I can do this," I grinned, jumping onto the opposite wall, then propelling myself off. I grabbed onto the entrance to the vent and raised a darkness-imbued claw. "Shadow Claw!" I called out, ripping a hole in it, making it big enough for myself to enter. "You coming or not?"

"Yeah, sure. Just one thing. You'll need to turn around since the way onto the roof's the other way," Yanma explained. She flew up and stood behind me. "This way. Hurry, since I'm sure they'll know we're trying to escape by now!" I looked behind me and sure enough, Yuuna was back. Yanma had sped ahead and I was coming up behind.

Yuuna put her finger in her ear, flicked her white hair up and made a black piece of plastic appear from it. She lined it up with her mouth and began calling for assistance. "Eldes, seeing as you're the head of security here, head to the roof, since we've got two break-outs and that's where they're headed. It's that bloody Yanma again! Not only that, but there's a new Pokémon accompanying it. It's an Infernape."

"Hurry up, Infernape! We've got to get there first!" Yanma called out to me.

"Goes without saying," I replied.

A lot of hurrying through the vent, we arrived at the roof. We looked over the edge of the building and could see one man with red hair and a grey and red outfit consisting of a trench coat and trousers. The red of his outfit matched his hair, which was quite short. He had a pair of black sunglasses. "Escaping, are we?" he chuckled. "This is quite an interesting situation indeed."

"Are we going to fight him?" Yanma asked, kind of excited. "I mean, this is what usually happens. We break out, then we fight the bad guy!"

"You know, I've seen all this before. My father was responsible for the second Shadow Pokémon incident. As soon as I heard about those five Pokémon trainers, I knew we had little chance of winning," the man mused. "You are both stolen Pokémon, aren't you? I know these things. I am a member of the Cult of Eclo, after all. I managed to find these and smuggle them out." He held out two spherical objects. A Master Ball and a Net Ball! I gasped, not believing what I saw. We had come so far and yet, this was where it all ended.

I shouted "You'll not take us back!" at him, in Infernape-ish.

"I have no reason to harm you. In fact, my allegiance to the cult ends here. After last time, I realised where Cipher had gone wrong, and Mistress Yuuna really is having none of it. I suppose that they'll have to learn the hard way."

I had no idea what he was talking about.

"Infernape, if you come down from there, I'll recall you and return you to your owner. Yanma, I'll help you out by giving you to Infernape's trainer, who I'm sure will look after you."

I turned to look at Yanma. "Can we trust him?"

"What's the worst that can happen? If he lies to us, we'll just end up back in those cells where we can plan another escape. If he tells the truth, we're safe."

"I hope you're right," I mumbled. I jumped off the roof, landing on my feet. Yanma came flying behind me. We were withdrawn into our Poké Balls.

Next thing I knew, we were back at the mansion where I was first stolen. The man had released us from our Poké Balls and went to knock on the door. That doctor guy answered it.

"Is there a girl here who lost a Pokémon?" the red guy asked.

"Ah, yes. Ahem. Midori! Midori, there's a man here to see you!" the doctor called into the house. I grinned happily. Finally, I was back.

Midori walked to the door. "What do you want?" she asked, melancholically.

"It's more a case of what do _you_ want," the man said, standing aside to open a gap between me and her.

"Midori!" I called out, running at her, enthused to see her again.

"Infernape! You came back!" she smiled, wrapping her loving arms around me. Thank you so much mister…"

"Verich. I am Eldes Verich. I know the infamy of the name but believe me; I'm putting that behind me. If you want to see what's really going on, then head over to the Shadow Pokémon Lab. By the way, keep the Yanma. It's Cult of Eclo property and I, being a member, am giving it to you," he said, handing Midori the Net and Master Balls.

"One thing first, though," Midori said, putting the Master Ball on the ground. She then stamped on it with her foot. "I'll use my own Poké Ball, okay? None of your cult crud."

"Very well then. I'm going to head back to the lab. I'm going to break news of my resignation to my superiors. By the way, I've also returned your bike," he said, smiling that he'd made a difference. "Flygon, let's go!" He released the dragon Pokémon from its Poké Ball and flew away.

"Now what do you suppose a nice man like him is doing working with jerks like Thane?" Midori asked, somewhat confused.

(End Pokédex translation systems.)

--

Author's Notes: Another fast update. Whoa.

A very protagonist-lite chapter this time. Certainly one of the most interesting chapters to write, I enjoyed doing this chapter (and the previous one) a lot. Giving the Pokémon a bit of personality is pretty rare in writing from what I've seen, outside of Mystery Dungeon fics anyway. I liked going against that and giving the two Pokémon conflicting personalities. Infernape's deadpan snarker attitude and Yanma's clownish silliness worked well, I thought.

Ken'ichi's back! Yay!

Coming next: The Sevenfold Squad (To reveal the narrator would be too much of a spoiler).


	7. The Sevenfold Squad

_Chapter 7: The Sevenfold Squad OR Fangirls Ruin Everything (Akane)_

The motorbike cavalry has entered the fray! I am Akane, Midori's red-hot older sister. Don't try anything though – I'm already married! I'm a little bit taller than Midori and, like her and Shannon, I'm a natural redhead. Minority my arse!

My story starts on the same day as the interview, the thing with the Shadow Tracker and the whole thing with Infernape. I was recently laid off my job at a motorbike workshop when it was shut down. We just weren't making enough of a profit. My husband Ansgar and I were at home in our flat in Goldenrod City, when the phone began ringing. Ansgar was in the kitchen, so I had to answer it myself. "Good morning. Hildebrandt-Fujioka residence. This is Akane speaking."

"Akane, this is Lance from the Pokémon League. There's been an emergency in Orre," the voice on the other end told me.

A few days before she left, Midori had told me everything about what she was going to do. Needless to say, I could guess what was going to come next. "Something happened to Midori, didn't it?" Ansgar popped his head around the doorframe to listen.

"Apparently, she's really struggling to deal with the pressures of looking after the group," Lance answered. "Apparently, she lashed out at one of her friends and…"

"Where is she now?" I demanded. If Midori was being violent, I felt that I couldn't sit around and let things go all wrong.

"She's at Dr. Kaminko's mansion. Why do you ask?"

"Kaminko's mansion, huh? Yeah, I know it. I'm heading there immediately!" I declared. I slammed the phone down, but I think Lance probably protested. "Ansgar, I'm going to Orre. Midori's having problems which require a sister's hand to solve. You look after the house, I'll be back whenever I am!" I declared, picking up some Poké Balls and attaching them to my belt. I slipped my black leather boots on along with a jacket and headed to the roof of the tower block. I looked down at the streets below. The wind was strong, as I could feel it blowing my ponytail around. It was blowing to the east, so I knew we were going the right way. "Pidgeot, I choose you!" I called out, releasing the bird Pokémon. A strong tail wind and a Pokémon capable of reaching Mach 2 – just perfect for the motorbike cavalry of Akane Hidebrandt-Fujioka to begin an airborne division! I hopped onto Pidgeot's back and told it where we were going. I put the motorbike helmet I was carrying onto my head and lowered the visor. "Now Pidgeot! Fly! To Orre!"

Pidgeot took off, wings spread wide and proud. It let out a loud cry of "Pidge-yoooo!", showing of its strength as it soared over the town. I could feel him accelerating as soon, we were out of Goldenrod and over the ocean. I raised my visor and felt the high G-forces pulling back at my face. Ever been on a rollercoaster when it's got to full speed? Imagine that while listening to some face-melting guitar solos. That is what it felt like. Trust me on this – Midori used to be the lead guitarist in a rock band and I just adore rollercoasters. I might be the crackpot of the family (which, knowing what Midori can be like sometimes, is saying quite a bit. She once managed to turn a cold into a romantic image. Doesn't top this ancient poet who once used a flea as innuendo, though. I digress, mind).

I closed my visor and looked ahead. We were about to fly past Mt. Ember, so I looked across to see if I could get a glimpse of the legendary Pokémon that's supposed to roost there. I wasn't so lucky, but the view of the volcano was beautiful.

A few minutes later, we were at sea again. Time zones started kicking in, since it was getting dark and very quickly. This was good, though, since I knew it meant that we were making good time. A few hours later, I spotted a lighthouse on the horizon. I patted Pidgeot's neck to get its attention, then pointed to the lighthouse. He knew what to do and began to slow down, turning towards the lighthouse gradually.

Eventually, we landed at the top, perfect for resting. I looked into my jacket pocket and brought out a fruit and oat bar. I unwrapped it and broke half of it off, giving one half to Pidgeot. I walked around the top of the lighthouse and stopped to look over towards Pyrite Town. My hometown used to be right underneath that place. I wasn't there when Cipher took over. By then, we'd moved to the surface and even to Phenac. In fact, Midori was ten at the time and my even littler sister Aoi was seven. So actually, we had already moved out of Phenac and were in Goldenrod. I then walked around to have a good look at Kaminko's Mansion. I called Pidgeot over.

"Pidgeot, come and see this," I said, pointing at the house. "That's where we're going next. Are you ready to head off?"

Pidgeot called out happily. I got onto its back.

"In that case, let's fly over there. Don't go too fast this time, though."

A few minutes later, we arrived at the mansion. "Aha! A burglar! I, Chobin, the only full-time assistant to Dr. Kaminko shall teach you a lesson! Go Sunflora!" a short guy with blue hair and weird specs called out, sending out his flowery Pokémon.

"Looking for a battle, little man? I can go along with that." I decided on my Pokémon quickly.

Pidgeot vs. Sunflora. Truly a struggle for the ages! Battle commenced.

"Pidgeot, Aerial Ace that Sunflora!"

"Sunflora, Ingrain!"

Pidgeot dived at Sunflora, swiping it with his beak, knocking it out instantly.

"Sunflora, return!" Chobin said, recalling his Pokémon. "Okay, identify yourself."

I removed my helmet and let my ponytail down. "Akane Hidebrandt, née Fujioka, leader of the Goldenrod City Hidebrandt-Fujioka motorbike cavalry! Guess who else is a Fujioka who happens to be here!" I declared, bombastically.

"Oh, you mean Midori! Chobin will let you in. Do forgive Chobin for being so hasty, Mrs. Hildebrandt!" Chobin said, apologetically.

"It's fine, little man. But please, it's actually Hildebrandt-Fujioka. My husband insisted on it, but I was fine to be just Hildebrandt," I explained. "Also, 'Mrs.' is far too formal for my taste."

"So what should Chobin call you then?" the scientist guy asked, rather confused.

"Akane. Just Akane. Now show me my sister!" I said, grinning slightly creepily.

Midori walked in, wearing a long white t-shirt which covered her nether regions, maintaining some modesty. "What's with all the noise?" she groaned, seemingly tired. "It's been a horrid day so I want some rest."

"I know. Lance told me everything," I replied. "It took a few hours, but I made it here as soon as I could." I walked towards her, extending my arms, ready to wrap them around her.

"Akane?" she whispered, not quite believing what she was seeing. She accepted my embrace and spoke softly to me. "Why did you feel the need to come all the way out here? I just feel even more useless now since I not only let one of my Pokémon get stolen, but someone else had to save it for me. Now it'll look like I can't survive out here without my big sister." I felt a tear of frustration run down my right shoulder.

"It's because I care. Now stop whining!" I demanded. "Remember that song from that game you like. There's no sense crying over every mistake – you just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake." I felt the rhythm catching on. "And the science gets done and you make a neat…"

"I know how it goes, Akane! I did cover it with my band, after all," Midori said, interrupting the song. "But wow, I feel even worse than I did before now. I'm going back to bed." She let go of me and walked away. I really can't remember the last time I saw Midori on such a downer.

"Chobin thinks that you'd better leave," the science guy said to me, walking towards the door. "Chobin will even get the door for you."

"No way," I said, sitting on the nearby couch. "Midori's not right as of late. She needs me! Besides, where else am I going to sleep tonight?"

Chobin grumbled. "Fine. Chobin will let you sleep there for now. Tomorrow though, you go!"

I shrugged. "Fine with me." I removed my boots and socks and put them on the floor with my helmet. Within a few minutes, I was asleep.

Morning came a bit too soon for my liking, but that was one of the joys of time zones. Nigel was the first one up, followed by me. "It's been a long time, kiddo," I said to him. "You do remember me, don't you?"

"You? Yeah, I saw you at the league. Akane, wasn't it?"

I cleared my throat. "Yes, that was very embarrassing to say the least. That's why we don't talk about it."

"I remember how your loyalties were messed up after it. You seemed to want Midori to lose so you could cling onto some shred of dignity, but since she's your sister…"

"Shut up! Shut up! Just because it was the first round of the tournament's knock-out stage!" There are some things you can talk about with me, but losing to your little sister in front of the world so badly is one thing you can't. Never. If you must know how what happened, her Infernape swept my entire team. Pidgeot, Alakazam, Tyranitar, all KO'd quickly. See why I was so irritated about Nigel going on about it?

Midori and Bryan were next up. "Akane? You're still here?" Midori said, just a tad annoyed.

I smiled. "Don't worry about me being here. In fact, I'll show you that you aren't useless," I told her.

"How are you going to do that?" Nigel wondered.

"I'm going to join the group!" I declared, boldly. "And that means, for the first and probably last time in your life, you get to boss me around, Midori!"

Midori's jaw dropped. "And how does that stop me being a terrible leader?

"It doesn't, because I don't believe you ever started in the first place," I giggled. "Now go and get dressed. We've probably got work to do." Midori nodded and walked away.

Bryan's PokéNav beeped. "That'll be Shannon," he said, pressing a button on the gadget. "Hi Shannon, what news? Some more missions? Really? Whoa, that's something. So we've got to… …Yes, I get it. How many did you get? Well we'll need six. Yes, six. Okay, I'll leave you to it. Bye Shannon."

"Six what?" I asked, intrigued by the whole thing.

"Snag Machines. You're Orrian, so you know about Cipher's operations, right?" Bryan asked.

I looked back at him, glaring slightly. "I do, although we weren't in the region at the time. I remember that the first one was thwarted by a young male with a device that allowed you to steal Pokémon, since he was originally in a gang of thieves."

"Team Snagem," Midori added, now fully dressed. I didn't see her come in. "Incidentally, I think Snagem worked with Cipher during the first invasion."

"They did. Then came the second attack five years later, with an all-new set of admins. Even the leader was different," I explained.

"Cipher in name only then?" Bryan asked.

"I dunno. I wasn't in Cipher. I assume that the second leader was the real one, though. I think his name was Greevil," I pondered for a minute. "And his pseudonym was Verich."

"Verich?!" Midori exclaimed. "The guy who returned Ken'ichi and Infernape was Eldes Verich!"

"That's funny. Greevil had a son called Eldes," Nigel noted.

"But he said to forget about how infamous his name was. Do you think it was the same guy?" Midori asked, slightly worried.

I thought for a second. "It's possible. He's one of the few people who knows what happened on Citadark Island," I rationalised. "That's probably why he seemed repentant. One thing though."

"What's that?" Midori seemed intrigued.

"Who's Ken'ichi? Not your ex-boyfriend, surely!" I teased.

Midori blushed. "No, it's my motorbike. I named it after the ex. He was probably the nicest guy I ever got involved with."

Nigel cleared his throat. "I am standing right here, you know."

"Yeah, but we're not actually together," Midori replied.

"Not together **yet**," I mumbled to Bryan. "Am I right?"

Bryan chuckled. "You're so right." We noticed the couple-to-be glaring at us. "Anyway, want to know the mission for today?"

"Go on," Midori said, a little annoyed by the situation.

"We've got to begin an attack on the former Cipher lab to look for more information. It's apparently that big white building in the desert. Can't miss it, apparently," Bryan told us. "This is where I wish part of the agreement was we could only take one Pokémon to Orre."

I grinned. "Well I'm okay since I wasn't part of the deal. I'm here because I want to be, so I've got six Pokémon with me. Maybe I can lend you all one each," I offered. "Just so you can all have two Pokémon each."

"I could use Yanma for a bit. I don't think Cail would mind much," Midori said.

"You've got a Yanma?" I said, slightly surprised. Well, actually that's an understatement. I was very surprised.

"For now. There was this guy who lost his Yanma, and I'm sure this is it," Midori explained. "So yeah, it's only mine for now."

"But the rest of you only have one each, right?" I checked. Nigel and Bryan nodded. "Okay then. Nigel, you could do with a quick Pokémon so you can borrow my Sneasel. Bryan, you can have my Mankey, seeing as you like things like kung-fu, apparently." I passed the boys the Poké Balls containing the two Pokémon.

"Why did you bring weaker Pokémon?" Nigel asked. "I mean, just wondering."

"Training for the next Johto League. I can't use the same Pokémon every year. That would be so predictable!"

Nigel shrugged. "Fair enough. I see the logic in that."

"A character in an animated movie I once saw once said that if you overspecialise, you breed in weakness, which is a slow death," I added.

"Exactly," Nigel replied. "That's why you lent me the fast Sneasel to go with my slow Torterra."

"Oh, so you brought Torterra in the end? I think you should have taken Electivire personally, but that's just me. I've also brought Pidgeot, Ninetales, Sableye and Ivysaur. But anyway, shall we go?"

"I'll go start up Ken'ichi," Midori said, putting her boots on and heading for the door with her keys clenched in her hand.

I quickly slipped my own boots on and followed her out. "Wait! I want to have a look at this bike!" I stopped on the doorstep as Midori started her bike up and drove it over to the door.

"I see that they didn't return the helmets," Midori sighed.

I was looking over the craftsmanship that had gone into the bike. It wasn't my preferred make. Let's just say that I prefer ones which share their name with an infamous Cacturne-using Pokémon Coordinator. This one seemed more at home back home in Goldenrod. It also looked like it had been modified to accommodate the side car. But it looked awesome nonetheless. "That looks like one hell of a bike," I told Midori.

"Looks like that Eldes guy even filled the tank for us, since it's actually got more fuel now than when it got stolen," my sister noted. "So how are you going to get to the lab? There's only room for three of us on here."

"You mean I'm not getting on the bike?" I whimpered. "You're horrible! How about we swap transports?"

Midori looked back at me, not overly impressed with the idea. "You said you've got a Pidgeot. There is no way I am riding a Pidgeot."

"I'll go on Pidgeot then," Nigel said, stepping forwards. "I mean, did you forget? The princess doesn't like birds. She's kinda scared of them. Your own sister and you forgot that about her!"

"I didn't forget, Nigel," I winked at him. "In fact, this kinda went as planned. Try and get one of you to volunteer to on Pidgeot instead of me, so I could ride the bike."

"You schemer!" Midori laughed. "Just remember – I'm driving it."

"Fine by me. Nigel!" I looked over at the one with the Sandslash-styled hair. I threw Pidgeot's Poké Ball over to him. "Don't rush him. He can get very fast, but you'll need to let him speed up himself."

"I get it. Come out Pidgeot!" Nigel called, releasing my Pokémon. Bryan sat in the sidecar and I sat behind Midori. Soon enough, we were off. I felt a little awkward, hanging onto my little sister while enjoying the feeling of the bike ride and quite a lot. Well, more than quite. Just a lot. Can't say I'd been converted to Kanto's motorbikes, but I was thoroughly impressed. We were keeping up with Nigel and Pidgeot, who were building up some high speed.

"Hey Nige!" Midori called out. "How about a race? The winner will be the first one to arrive and have everyone dismounted. It balances out since there's three of us but one of you, but you'll have to land to dismount without hurting yourself."

"You're on, princess!" Nigel shouted back. "Akane, does Pidgeot know Tailwind or Agility?"

"It knows Tailwind, Fly, Return and Steel Wing," I answered.

"Right then! Pidgeot, use Tailwind!" Nigel decided. Pidgeot called out, creating a strong breeze that blew from behind. Pidgeot soared on the wind, getting a massive boost of speed, enough to gain a lead.

"In that case, I'll have to speed up myself. Thanks to that Tailwind move, we don't have the wind blowing against us, so we can keep up easily!" Midori declared, pushing the bike to its extremes. I looked at the speedometer, which read 70mph. Within minutes, we were at the lab. Midori turned the engine off and took the keys out, and we got off the bike.

"It looks like we won. Nigel's still trying to land," Bryan noted, pointing up. Pidgeot was circling around a bit, trying to slow down so he could come in for a clear landing. Bryan then saw something appearing on the horizon. "That's a weird shape," he declared. "Must be Shannon and Michelle."

"What are they riding?" I asked, totally bemused by the shape of their hovering transport. "Is it a UFO?"

"Shannon uses a Magnezone. Her preferred tactic in battle is to have as few weaknesses as possible, hence why it knows Magnet Rise," Bryan explained.

"I think we have Sableye's temporary owner then," I shrugged. "Still, Magnezone cavalry?"

Bryan looked up at me, slightly confused as to why I thought it was an odd idea. "It's no weirder than your 'motorbike cavalry', you know."

"Motorbikes were actually used in wartimes, you know," I told him.

"Yeah, in videogames. Shannon showed me a game where you could use them along with other odd weapons like flare cannons and crop dusters," Bryan replied. "Really odd game, that one. It had things like that but on the other hand, their world still had missile silos and bio-weapons."

"You really should learn your history, Bryan. Motorbikes really have been used like that before," I replied. "You should know by now that when you're desperate for a win you might try all kinds of weird tactics. Doesn't matter what you're trying to win."

Nigel landed and recalled Pidgeot, giving the Poké Ball back to me. "You know, I know exactly what you mean," he told me. "Michelle has a Blastoise which uses all physical attacks. Total waste of the cannons in my opinion."

"You were eavesdropping?" Midori asked, slightly unimpressed the slight rudeness of it.

"Maybe. But yeah, I think we should begin coming up with a plan."

The Magnezone on the horizon was very close. "Hey guys!" one of the girls called out to us. It was a brunette wearing a light blue t-shirt and white miniskirt with white trainers, all of which seemed to fit her figure without being too tight. She had some kind of gadget on her right arm, as did her redheaded companion, who was dressed in a baggy black t-shirt and blue jeans. "We're here!" The two girls jumped off the Magnezone.

"Are those Snag Machines?" I was intrigued by the machines they had. They were black with a piece of armour which fitted over the left shoulder. There was a sort of cable which ran down the arm into a sort of armoured glove.

"Yep, they're Snag Machines. Now a question for you. Just who are you?" the redhead asked.

"I'm Akane Hildebrandt-Fujioka, Midori's sister," I told her. "My turn to ask you a question."

"Oh, we're making a game out of it, then?"

"Yes. Now I get to ask you two," I grinned.

"Why's that?"

"Oh, that's three!" Nigel said to us.

"What!?"

Bryan added a comment. "Four questions. Wait your turn."

"Okay, my first question for you would be which one of you is Shannon?" The others hadn't given me any physical descriptions to work with, and out of the group, I'd only met Nigel before, aside from Midori (obviously).

"That'll be me," the red-haired girl said. "The other girl here is Michelle."

I nodded. "Okay then. Next question. Do you want to use a Sableye for a while?"

"Sure, why not?" Shannon answered.

"Bonus question! Boo-yah!" I called out, excited about the fact I get five questions because of her impatience.

"But that was rhetorical!" Shannon protested.

"And why should I care?"

"Because you just wasted that extra question!" Shannon giggled. "You're as bad as me!"

"Not even close. Anyway, what's with the…" I looked at the ground at her feet. "I mean, did you forget to put shoes on this morning?"

"No, I didn't. I'm always barefoot inside or when riding a Pokémon. It's just a habit of mine," Shannon explained. "Midori thinks it's weird, but it's not harming anyone. In fact, it's probably better for the Pokémon I'm riding."

"Oh. Now for my final question. Michelle, could you do me a favour by looking after my Ivysaur?"

"Uhh… Sure, I guess," Michelle answered. I passed Michelle and Shannon the Poké Balls for their respective Pokémon. "By the way, we brought three more Snag Machines. Akane, you'll have to do without one," she added, passing around more machines to the others, who put them on. "So what now? Shall we attack?"

There was a loud spat of shouting. "Inexcusable! What you did was inexcusable!"

"It came from the building on the left!" Michelle exclaimed. Shannon recalled her Magnezone and we headed for the entrance. Bryan breathed in deeply, seeming to channel energy into his arms and forced the door to slide open. I didn't believe it at first. He didn't really have much in the way of muscles, so it seemed unlikely. Yet he'd done it. I wasn't going to say anything though, just follow along.

We looked around the corner. There were four people there. One was extremely pale – even her hair was white. She said something to one of the two men there. The man she was talking to was blonde with blue eyes, with a more normal-looking skin tone. She spoke quietly, but I could make out what she was saying. "I'm heading underground. You are in charge of the lab and everything in it. Deal with the traitor. If he's not disposed of without getting all the information we need by the time I return, there will be consequences. Remember that, darling."

"_What a skank,"_ I thought. Her outfit was very revealing and didn't suit her at all. An albino girl dressed in a black leather tube top and matching skirt with black high heels. She just looked absolutely vile.

"Don't worry, Lady Yuuna. I will get rid of him," the blonde man said, kissing her hand.

"_She's got him wrapped around her finger, too!"_ Whoever these guys were, they seemed horrible to be around.

"You had better, Blake. I'd hate to make you into a mess, like you're about to do to this fool," Yuuna replied. She withdrew her hand from his grip and walked away.

When she was gone, the other girl there spoke. She had black hair which reached down her back, all the way down to her navel. She was dressed in a way that can only really be described as emo. Seriously, her hair was in bangs despite its length, covering her right eye. On her chest was a short-sleeved t-shirt with the logo of the Goldenrod band "Green Mist", which Midori was the guitarist of. Her tight black jeans were held up by a studded belt, leading to her somewhat deformed canvas sneakers. "Fascinating!" she squeaked. "I'm reading a UST-rating of 9 from you too!"

"UST?" the blonde guy asked. He was wearing a long blue coat, so whatever else he was wearing was hard to tell.

"Yeah! Unresolved you-know-what-ual Tension! I made a device that measures it!" the emo girl giggled.

"_A perky emo?"_ I wondered. _"Is that even possible?!"_

"You what?!" the man responded. "Clara, just why the heck would you even make such a thing?"

"Because I thought it would be cool!" the jolly emo replied.

Blake sighed. "It's a good thing you're a genius. Otherwise, I would have fired you already."

"I'd only go and find another job. It's not like there's a lack of sciencey-types in the region. I mean sure, they're hardly what I'd call ambitious but you know, they could always make something awesome," Clara said, remaining cheerful. "So, how about that job that Yuuna gave us? I even built the torture machine!"

"Torture machine?" Midori whispered. "That must be what they've got Eldes rigged up to."

"Eldes?" Michelle whispered back.

"The guy with the red hair and weird outfit," Midori told us. "This is it!" She jumped out of cover and shouted. "Hey you! You can't just torture people for the hell of it!"

"I think you'll find we can," the blonde man replied. "Clara, deal with this intruder!"

There was a silence. Clara looked up at Midori then squealed. "Oh hell yes! It's you!" She leapt to her feet and stared at Midori, gawping stupidly. "My idol-chan!"

"Idol-chan?" Midori repeated, bemused by the situation.

"I'm your biggest fan!" Clara squealed, lifting her shirt up and pulling a permanent marker out of her pocket. "Please! Please! Sign my chest, Midori!"

Midori sighed and placed her left hand on her forehead. "Our enemy is a fangirl. You, coat dude. If this is what your colleague is like, I feel so sorry for you. We're still enemies, though, but I am sorry for you."

"Quite. Clara, stop messing around and get rid of her!" Blake demanded, forcefully.

"Screw this," I muttered. Midori's very presence had created a diversion, so I was going to help Eldes out. I snuck around the back, trying not to get noticed. Michelle followed me.

"Wait here, you guys," she whispered.

Back at the scene which Midori and Clara had somehow created, it was really getting silly. "So Midori, I really don't wanna hurt you but an order's an order. Go Exeggcute!" Clara called out, sending in the pink egg cluster. Another gadget which Michelle and Shannon had supplied started beeping. This one was on the left-hand side of Midori's face. She pressed a button on it, and a clear half-visor appeared, covering Midori's left eye.

"Aura Searcher," Midori grinned. "That tells me that you've got a Shadow Exeggcute. See? It even shows up on the Shadow Tracker," she added, showing her Pokétch off. "Yanma, you're up!" She opened a Net Ball and out burst the oversized dragonfly. "Supersonic!"

"Keep it in there with Shadow Hold!"

Yanma started flapping her wings extremely quickly, creating a shrill tone which gave Exeggcute a migraine. Well, lots of migraines to be accurate, really. The migraines caused the oval seed Pokémon to feel dizzy, meaning that it (or should it be they? Technically there _is_ six of them. I'll go with the singular for now, though) wasn't able to create a proper wave of disrupting shadow energy in order to attack properly, resulting in an injury. At least, that's what Shannon told me afterwards.

I was trying to work out what I could do to get Eldes off the torture rack. "Those locks seem tight," I whispered to Michelle. "Brute force isn't going to get them off."

"Then think more subtly," Michelle whispered back, pulling a hair clip out of her brunette locks. "Classic trick, this. Using a hair clip as a lock pick."

"It's a pity that it won't work," declared Blake, calmly. He pulled a gun out and aimed it at Michelle. He then pressed a few buttons on the computer that Clara had been working on. "That loud bang you just heard was the only escape routes closing. You are trapped on our turf."

I noticed Nigel sneak out of view. There was a loud cry of "TERRA!" and the next thing I knew, the ground was trembling. Everything shook, everyone struggling to stand. Amidst the shaking, Blake dropped his pistol, which Michelle made a dive for and grabbed, narrowly beating Blake to it.. Midori looked back and realised exactly what was going on. A Poké Ball materialised in her hand.

"Snag Ball, go!" she called out, throwing it at Exeggcute. The ball burst open, a burst of light resembling a set of snatching fingers scooping up Exeggcute. Closing, the ball began to shake. Three times, before flashing once more to signify a successful snag. "Now return, Yanma."

Nigel walked into where the action was, appearing to recall a Pokémon as he entered. "You see why I love using Torterra now?" he smirked. "One move and he turned the whole thing around."

"I'm getting out of here! Aha hee hee!" Clara declared, running towards the stairs at the back.

"I've locked the computer. There is no way getting past the security systems Clara installed. The methods are so elaborate, only she and the boss can get past them," Blake explained. "Farewell." He exited via the same route as Clara and his boss, closing and locking the door behind him. That was the end of our crusade.

"You shouldn't have come," Eldes groaned.

Midori frowned. "Oh come on! All we need to do is pull together and make a plan! There's seven of us and we're all experts at different things! I'm an expert with fast Pokémon, Nigel's good with defensive Pokémon, Shannon's a techie, Bryan's strong and knows about fighting, Michelle's ingenious, Akane's got a fantastic memory and Eldes has inside knowledge of the cult!" she said, affirmatively. "If you all can then say that none of us can come up with absolutely anything then something's very wrong with this picture!"

"So wait, I'm one of your group now?" Eldes asked, tilting the neck on his cruciform body so he could look at Midori.

"You're damn right you are!" Midori declared. "If you were on your own, you'd just be here, probably grilled and stuck to that infernal machine! You, sir, have proved yourself to be a valuable ally to me!"

I was stunned. Less than twenty-four hours beforehand, Midori was whining about how pathetic a leader she was. "I'm sorry, why were you being such an angst-bucket again?"

"Yeah, princess! This is why we chose you to be the leader," Nigel added.

Michelle had pseudo-lock-picked Eldes out of his shackles. "What we need to do is work out some way of getting out of here. That should be our top priority."

"Well the doors are made of reinforced titanium. There's no getting through them," Eldes told us. "The walls on the other hand are worn concrete. We're going to need a lot of strength to go through them, but it would be possible."

"Even though it didn't actually destroy any of the walls, I think that Earthquake attack certainly weakened the building. We'll need to pretty much blast one wall with as much firepower as possible. Then it's simply getting out into the open again before it all falls down," Shannon explained.

"Well then," Midori said, preparing a Poké Ball. "Let's blast this down!"

--

Author's notes: Wow. Just wow. I somehow managed just under 5 500 words in this chapter. Just as well, since I intended to move the story on a fair bit this time.

There's not a lot to say really. The alternative title for this chapter is pretty much a summing up of the moral of the story, at least from Blake's perspective.

Not saying what the Cult of Eclo meant by "going underground". You can guess, but I won't say.

Also, Clara got screwed over. That's not all she has, though. Don't worry.

A quick summary of the teams for the main characters, if you are having trouble keeping up:

Midori: Infernape, Yanma, Shadow Exeggcute

Nigel: Torterra, Sneasel

Bryan: Exploud, Mankey

Shannon: Magnezone, Sableye  
Michelle: Blastoise, Ivysaur

Akane: Pidgeot, Ninetales

Eldes: Flygon, ??

Coming next: Into the Fire (Bryan).


End file.
